Fox 8's Stefani Schaefer has carried her DIY attitude into her East Side home.

A 12-year-old Stefani Schaefer was washing the bowl of her betta fish when she dropped the beloved pet down the sink.

She didn't rush to a parent for help. "I got out wrenches. ... I didn't know what I was doing," Schaefer says. "I took apart the entire sink trap."

She not only saved the fish but also reassembled the sink entirely by instinct. "My upbringing has been to try it yourself instead of relying on other people," she says. "I always feel like, I can do this. I'm Type A. It's that determination."

Visit the home of this bubbly Fox 8 morning anchor, and you'll see plenty of examples of her I'll-do-it-myself grit. Schaefer's 3,000-square-foot East Side contemporary home is like a private playground for kids and grown-ups, with delights inside and out that she and husband Roger designed and constructed without professional help.

Stepping into the backyard tucked in the woods of their 2.5-acre lot is like happening upon a secret garden. A meandering pebble path leads to a waterfall embedded in a slope. There's a putting green with a sand trap and an outdoor living room of plush sofas surrounding a fire pit.

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But the backyard's centerpiece is a Roger-constructed tree fort lofted high in the air, complete with a basket and pulley to hoist treats up to the kids, a curved staircase leading to a tube slide, a trap door exposing a rope ladder and — the fort's star attraction — a zip line.

It isn't enough for Schaefer to simply wave a hand for visitors in the fort's direction. Instead, she climbs to the top in a short skirt and espadrille wedge shoes and zooms down herself. "It is the easiest way to get down," she adds with practicality.

Inside, this house is packed with life — in addition to the couple, there's 9- and 10-year-old kids Siena and Race, golden retriever Gunner, three guinea pigs, a rabbit, four cats and an aquarium.

Even the decor seems to be living and breathing. Schaefer can walk through her home and describe a treasured family memory that corresponds to virtually every couch, accessory and wall adornment. Like the vintage-style popcorn popper in the family room that she gave Roger for their first anniversary. Or the photographs of friends and family that pack every surface. Or the crosses she's collected in her travels.

"Cluttered," is how Roger describes the home's decor. "She loves knickknacks. There's not a shelf you can put anything else on."

It's clear the house was once '80s contemporary, with white, low-slung furniture in the living room. But today, it's a mishmash of styles, with a carved, oak armoire just steps away from Asian-patchwork floor pillows and a white leather sofa accented with faux tiger and fur-covered pillows.

The home also has a touch of the quirky, like a cheeseburger telephone in the kitchen, a tiki hut in Race's room paired with a lifeguard-chair-turned-bookshelf, and Uglydolls — think bug-eyed alien plush toys — in the living room.

Indeed, no pretension or trend-chasing here. It's a home designed to accommodate little else than family time, a place where Schaefer surrounds herself with friends and family every weekend. They grill out, watch the kids scamper through the tree fort and end the night with s'mores around the fire pit.

For Every Treasure, A Story

Nothing in Schaefer's home is there by happenstance. Knickknacks and accessories cover nearly every flat surface, and each has a story behind it.

Vintage reproduction popcorn popper
It was Schaefer's gift to her husband for their first anniversary, with a card noting the special times they'd create with it: romantic dinners and movie nights with popcorn, making popcorn for their future children, "and then one day we'll be old and we won't be able to eat popcorn, but we'll remember all of the special memories we had."

Cork collection
Schaefer has saved every wine cork since she and Roger began dating, in a half-dozen glass vases. On each she writes the date and a special memory, like the night the family cat escaped during a dinner party. "Until midnight, we were all running around the woods trying to find him, so I wrote 'Marco lost, we chased him all night.' "

Wall of crosses
"We're very spiritual," says Schaefer of her family's Catholic faith. This small section of wall is packed with 51 crosses — one from Little Italy that bears red lipstick from her kisses, and others from vacations in Mexico, New York, New Orleans and elsewhere.